Inmates demand air conditioning in lawsuit filed against Florida Department of Corrections

It was the hottest September in more than a century in some parts of South Florida, and Dwayne Wilson could hear his 81-year-old fellow inmate gasping for air and screaming for help at Dade Correctional Institution, 25 miles southwest of Miami. The edge of the Florida Everglades.

The older man was confined to a wheelchair and had been complaining of severe chest pain and difficulty breathing for weeks in the unventilated dormitory where he was serving his sentence, according to a federal class-action lawsuit filed this week on behalf of Wilson and two other inmates. in prison.

According to the lawsuit, the wheelchair-bound inmate, identified in the lawsuit as JB, was heard begging for help once again in the early morning hours of Sept. 24. An inmate took him to the infirmary, where medical staff ordered him back to his cell in 15 minutes, according to legal records.

The case file stated that a short time later, JB was found unresponsive with his mouth open.

On the day the 81-year-old died, exhaust fans in the dormitory were not working and the heat index rose to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius), lawyers said. Living in the prison’s unair-conditioned cells felt like being “locked in a sardine can with no air to breathe,” and the heat took its toll, one inmate testified in the lawsuit, GM said.

The lawsuit, filed this week by the Florida Institute of Justice, a prison reform advocacy group, says heat at the facility caused four deaths there and that prison officials failed to take “meaningful action” to reduce the risk it posed to seniors and the elderly. disabled inmates are in their care.

The lawsuit, which names the Florida Department of Corrections, the department secretary and the DCI director as defendants, argues that the conditions violate Eighth Amendment protections that prohibit cruel and unusual punishment and Americans with Disabilities. Law and Rehabilitation Law.

“We had to file this lawsuit because so far they have ignored the concerns of detainees and their lawyers. “And it seems like they need a court to order them to do what they need to do on their own,” said Andrew Udelsman, an attorney with the Florida Institute of Justice.

A Department of Corrections spokeswoman said the department does not comment on pending litigation and the agency has no record of the lawsuit being served.

According to the World Health Organization, extreme temperatures are the leading cause of weather-related deaths. While deadly heat is not new, scientists say it is increasing in scale, frequency and duration with climate change. Last year had the highest number of heat-related deaths in the United States in more than 80 years. Associated Press analysis Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the majority of people incarcerated in sweltering Florida are serving their sentences in cells without air conditioning, even as temperatures continue to soar in the state. break records. The risk is even greater for the elderly and those with medical conditions that make them more susceptible to heat-related illnesses.

According to testimony that Department of Corrections Secretary Ricky Dixon gave to state lawmakers last year, 75% of prison housing in the state does not have air conditioning. Last year, a bill requiring the department to install air conditioning in state prisons died in the Republican-controlled legislature.

“When you’re in the facility, when you visit a dorm that doesn’t have air conditioning, you’re looking at the guards that are tasked with providing security in those areas, that’s absolutely oppressive,” Republican State Sen. Jennifer Bradley said at a hearing. last October.

“There are things we can do to reduce heat in our system. “Or Florida will find itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit,” he warned. “And it’s going to be a lot more expensive.”

Florida is not alone in lawsuits filed over dangerously hot prisons. Lawsuits were also filed Texas, Louisiana And new mexico. Someone applied Georgia In July, a 27-year-old prisoner allegedly died after being left in an open-air cell for hours without water, shade or ice.

Udelsman said he hopes the Florida case will help push courts to set consistent safety standards for incarcerated people at risk of lethal heat exposure at a time when climate change poses a growing threat to the nation. aging And invalid prison population.

“Courts are increasingly confirming that such conditions are unconstitutional,” Udelsman said. “We hope this case will be a case along those lines…these dominoes will continue to fall.”